First, let’s get this out of the way right from the start. You must build an email list.

Here’s why:

>> It’s your business’ most valuable asset. By subscribing to your list, your visitor has already told you that their ears are open to hear what you have to say. They’re interested in what you’re offering—now just make sure to treat them right with good, valuable information that can make a difference for them.

>> It’s the cheapest way to deliver your content, offer valuable insights, and monetize your business with product recommendations.

>> Email lists give you direct access straight to your prospects because they’ve given you access to their private inbox. This is akin to them allowing you into their homes.

>> You can offer your subscribers special “goodies” for taking a specific action you want them to take. You can make creative use of different incentives.

So, I will be giving you some actionable strategies which you can deploy to build your email list.

Opt in Box Placement

The classic spot for your optin box is the top right on the sidebar. This is by-far the most popular spot used by most bloggers. The reason is simple—it works. Visitors are used to seeing it there and gravitate to that spot to sign up.

There are some additional, often overlooked spots that work very well.

You can place an optin box at the top of your page right underneath your blog’s header. Give some of the benefits that readers will receive from the blog and place a one line optin box underneath it.

Readers didn’t find this obtrusive because you’re not beating up on them to sign up; you’re simply reminding them why they came there in the first place.

Exit Pops

Exit pops are effective. You might think they can be annoying and cause visitors to click away, but the opposite has been shown to be true.

They have effectively garnered sign ups and complaints have been either minimal or totally non-existent.

Both Aweber and Get Response also have a feature called a “light box”. It’s similar to an exit pop except that it pops up after the visitor has been on the site for a predetermined time. It doesn’t require the prospect to exit before popping up. It has also been reported to yield excellent results.

After The Blog Post

This is one of my favorites. If you have ever authored (or plan to author) a detailed report or ebook on your topic, you can post a review of it on your blog.

In your review give basic details, explain the benefits offered in your report and place an optin box after your blog post. Allow visitors to obtain the complete report in exchange for their email address.

The logic here makes perfect sense. Your visitor has already made a mini-commitment by taking the time to read your post. Now, it’s only a small step to receive the entire report. If your report has delivered real value, an optin should be no problem.

You can use the following language in your optin box. “If you enjoyed reading this blog post and found value in the information it provided, you can easily get access to the entire report (ebook, checklist) by entering your email below”.

Try it, it works!

You can even put links to your optin box within your blog post itself. The links will take them to the optin box where they can sign up. By doing this, you won’t need to be concerned that they won’t finish reading the post and never see the optin box.

The Giveaway

I did this one myself with great results. Offer a free giveaway drawing on your blog and your Facebook fan page. Make the giveaway prize something that’s relevant to your market and will be considered valuable by your visitors.

It is highly recommended that your prize should be worth several hundred dollars, at a minimum. A cheap prize will turn people off and they’ll just click away.

Set your drawing date a few months into the future to allow your list to grow. As a requirement to register for the drawing, have your prospects enter their email addresses. You can get people to your page with a small budget “page like” campaign on Facebook.

Or better yet, make a short video announcing your giveaway, post the video on your fan page and boost the post. You can get video views on Facebook for less than one cent per view.

You’ll get loads of sign ups and thousands of page likes. This works like a charm.

Keep your eyes out for my next installment of the list building strategies. In the meantime, please leave your comments below and let me know what you think.